Brisbane apartments grow to accommodate families in inner city

A demographic shift will require inner-city Brisbane apartments to be bigger and offer more communal space — starting with one suburb.

A SUBURBS-to-the-City phenomenon occurring among families has prompted planning rule changes that will require developers to include bigger apartments and more communal space in their projects.

The Courier-Mail can reveal the requirements have been included in the revised planning scheme for one of Brisbane’s emerging inner-city growth areas, Bowen Hills, and could be expanded into other areas.

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Under the changes to the suburb’s priority development area (PDA) framework, proponents will be required to commit 10 per cent of their project’s floor space to apartments that have three bedroom or more.

Residential development applications will also be required to ensure up to 80 per cent of the site’s area is committed communal spaces, like pool areas, barbeque facilities and rooftop gardens.

The overhaul comes after analysis by the State Government’s Economic Development Queensland arm showed less than 2 per cent of approved dwellings in Bowen Hills over recent years had been apartments with three or more bedrooms.

Meanwhile, the number of families with children living in apartments in Brisbane has increased to 15.5 per cent.

The changes come despite developers arguing that there was little market appetite for larger apartments and the requirement would put them at a competitive disadvantage to projects outside of Bowen Hills.

Madison, one of the many high-rises popping up in Bowen Hills

However Planning Minister Cameron Dick said 23,000 new homes were expected to be built in Bowen Hills, and the changes to the 10-year-old plan would ensure development matched community expectations and market requirements.

“This area is half the size of the Brisbane CBD and these changes ensure future development will deliver housing diversity, achieve best practice sustainability standards and provide generous and high-quality communal spaces,” he said.

“The PDA provides opportunity for new development that can capitalise on significant public and private infrastructure investment in the area including the new Fortitude Valley State Secondary College, expanded health care services at the RBWH and the Herston Quarter redevelopment, the Cross River Rail at Exhibition Station and the planned Brisbane Metro.”

The creation of a second full-time train station on the grounds of the Ekka is expected to be a catalyst for significant development in the area.

The Government currently oversees 32 PDAs across Queensland, including in other inner-city areas such as the new Queen’s Wharf development, the Herston Quarter, Northshore Hamilton and Woolloongabba.